Solar market research

November 19, 2012 | Andrew M. Gabor | Shyam Mehta

Times are tough across the crystalline silicon (c-Si) PV supply chain; overcapacity has contributed to crashing prices and negative profit margins, and equipment vendors are challenged to sell new equipment to companies with idled lines. Innovation is one way out of this current mess. Never before has the pressure been so intense to improve every aspect of PV technology, including cell efficiency, materials costs, equipment costs, equipment throughput, installed system costs, and energy delivery in the field.

The potential rate of technological innovation is overwhelming and the impacts on module cost, performance and reliability are difficult to understand or predict. This 262-page report helps readers navigate these factors. In this report, we explore nine topics of innovation within the c-Si PV industry that are distributed evenly between the wafer, cell, and module.

The report analyzes the above innovations based on potential impact on manufacturing costs, efficiency and energy yield in the field, module reliability, widespread availability of the technology within the next two years, and level of interest within the global PV industry.

Report Author

contact

Andrew Gabor is a Consulting Analyst at GTM Research. He is also Managing Director of Gabor Photovoltaics Consulting, LLC. Prior to consulting, Andrew helped to found 1366 Technologies, where he developed advanced texturing and metallization technologies. He also worked for eleven years at Evergreen Solar developing cell and module technologies for String Ribbon solar cells and designing factories. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Colorado, Boulder and performed his graduate work at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, where he invented the 3-Stage process for forming record-efficiency CIGS solar cells. He resides in Providence, Rhode Island and lectures regularly at Brown University on PV technology.

Report Author

contact

Shyam Mehta is the Lead Upstream Solar Analyst at GTM Research. Before joining GTM Research, Shyam was a Financial Analyst at Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research where he covered equities in the alternative energy sector, primarily solar companies. Prior to Goldman, Shyam was a Research Analyst at The Brattle Group, an economic consulting firm, where his work focused on problems within the electricity industry. Shyam received his Bachelor's in Mathematics from U.C. Berkeley.

Ready to Purchase?

Please select a report license below.

Single Site License: $2,995

Enterprise License: $5,395

Enterprise licenses are for organizations with multiple research users. Enterprise license customers are permitted to share this report internally, among multiple locations of the organizations, and host the report on an Intranet and make it accessible to employees. The report may not be shared with outside entities.

Quarterly reports presenting the most comprehensive market analysis and industry data available today.

Join the exclusive group of decision makers driving the future of the electric grid.

Quarterly and national market share for installers and module suppliers as well as state-by-state breakdowns.

The most in-depth and up-to-date data, analysis and news on the expanding U.S. utility market.

value added elements

Vendor and market penetration analysis for each of the nine c-Si technologies covered

Cost-benefit analysis for each c-Si technology

Impacts on efficiency and energy yield in the field

Impacts of innovations on module reliability

Commercial availability of the technology within the next two years

contact: Justin Freedman

Phone: 617.500.6243

Email: sales@greentechmedia.com

GTM Research, a division of Greentech Media, provides critical and timely market analysis in the form of research reports, data services, advisory services and strategic consulting. GTM Research’s analysis also underpins Greentech Media’s webinars and live events. Our coverage spans the clean energy industry including the solar power, smart grid, energy storage, energy efficiency and wind power sectors. Our analyst team combines diverse backgrounds in investment banking, engineering, information technology, strategic consulting and regulatory sectors. Our analysts are widely known across the industry and speak regularly at industry events all over the world. GTM Research is based in Boston with offices in New York and San Francisco.